A GRAMMAR school boy who posed as a secret service agent in an attempt to arrange his own murder has been banned from using internet chat rooms and placed under a three-year supervision order.

The Greater Manchester teenager, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, concocted an elaborate array of aliases to recruit a friend he met while using an internet chat room.

And he then persuaded him to carry out the attack that almost killed him, telling him he was acting on a spy's orders.

Disguising himself as a government agent, the boy, now 15, even offered his friend, 17, also from Greater Manchester, a £500,000 reward for carrying out the attack, and promised him he would meet the Queen, Tony Blair, the Defence Secretary and the head of the British Secret Service Protection squad.

The elaborate plot failed when the youngster, who was 14 at the time, survived. His friend was arrested for attempted murder and told detectives he believed he was working for the Secret Service when he stabbed his pal in an Altrincham alleyway.

Officers from the police computer examination unit seized a computer from the older boy, known as Mark, and discovered messages suggesting a plot to kill the younger boy, known as John.

Mark also said he had been given a Secret Service number and was told he had to kill John because if he died of natural causes it would cost the government a lot of money.

When interviewed the younger boy admitted he had posed as a spy to arrange his own death because he was depressed after falling out with friends at school and was having problems at home.

At Manchester Crown Court John pleaded guilty to soliciting his friend to try to murder him.

He also pleaded guilty to hiding the fact he persuaded the other teenager to stab him and assuming a number of false identities on the internet designed to lead to the arrest of another.

Mark pleaded guilty to attempting to murder his friend by stabbing him twice with a knife, which left the younger boy fighting for his life in hospital for weeks.

Both teenagers were allowed to walk free from court, but John was given a three-year supervision order, is banned from using the internet unless he is supervised by an adult and must not use chat rooms.

Mark has been placed under a two-year supervision order. Neither boy must contact each other.

Judge David Maddison said: "Skilled writers of fiction would struggle to conjure up a plot such as arises here. Offences of this kind, in normal circumstances, would result in extremely long custodial sentences. But this simply cannot be described as normal circumstances."

Det Chief Insp Julian Ross said: "Throughout this investigation we have received a great deal of support and assistance from both families."

"This case shows the dangers young people can face when using the internet. The lives of the two boys and their families have been absolutely devastated by this incident."

"This has been a difficult enquiry for all the officers involved and their professionalism throughout has been a credit to them."